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His plan was given a frosty welcome by shipping companies over concerns a bridge would cause major disruption.

But Mr Johnson received a significant boost after Ian Firth, the former president of the Institution of Structural Engineers, said building such a bridge was “entirely feasible”.

He said: “It has been looked at before. Before the tunnel was built there were bridge options being looked at and of course it is doable.

“There are bridges of a similar, but not quite that, scale elsewhere.

“We were looking very recently at a bridge between Denmark and Germany, now being made as a tunnel, not as long but certainly of a similar sort of technical challenge.”

Critics have questioned the viability of building such a structure given the status of the Dover Strait as the world’s busiest shipping lane.

But Mr Firth, a director at engineering firm COWI, suggested combining a bridge with a stretch of tunnel - potentially in a similar way to the Oresund Bridge between Sweden and Denmark - could avoid any impact on shipping.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “There is no real issue, particularly nowadays with modern technologies. We can design relatively long spans.

“The economics may lean towards something like getting on for a kilometre spans or something, 800 metre to a kilometre span, that sort of size I would imagine. Multiple spans.

“It would be a huge undertaking but it would be absolutely possible and the shipping impact issues could be dealt with.”

Mr Firth would not be drawn on the cost of bridging the approximately 22 miles between the UK and the continent but said it would likely take almost a decade to plan and build.

David Knight, a member of the board of The Institution of Structural Engineers, said: “It’s technically feasible, but would be extremely expensive.”

Mr Johnson has previously championed the idea of a road tunnel under the Channel but believes a bridge might now be an option.

He hinted at his desire for more big Anglo-French infrastructure projects when he tweeted on Thursday: "I'm especially pleased we are establishing a panel of experts to look at major projects together. Our economic success depends on good infrastructure and good connections. Should the Channel Tunnel be just a first step?"

Mr Johnson is understood to have told aides: "We are two of the world's greatest economies linked by a single railway. It's ridiculous.”

The Telegraph understands that when Mr Johnson suggested building a second Channel crossing to Emmanuel Macron at an Anglo French summit on Thursday, the French president replied: “I agree. Let’s do it.”

But Guy Platten, the CEO of the UK Chamber of Shipping, warned against doing anything that could harm sea freight.

He said: “Shipping moves 95 per cent of the UK’s trade – it is vital that its movement remains as frictionless as possible, without disruption of any kind.

“The Government and the EU should concentrate on keeping trade moving freely through our ports, which is in the economic interest of both sides of the Channel.”

Downing Street did not appear to back Mr Johnson’s idea with Number 10 saying it had “not seen any plans for a bridge”.

A proposal to build a huge suspension bridge across the Channel was considered in the 1980s.

A bid to construct a £3bn motorway link was presented to transport officials in Margaret Thatcher's government in 1981 but the Channel Tunnel was given the green light instead, opening in 1994.

Artist's impression of a proposed suspension bridge linking England and France, submitted to Margaret Thatcher's government
Credit: The National Archives/PA

Motorists would have been required to pay a toll of £5.60 to cross the bridge which would have stood 220 feet above the water, according to documents released by the National Archives in 2007.

A proposal to build two bridges, one starting in the UK and one in France, joined by a tunnel in the middle was also floated.

A bridge between the two countries would likely be one of the largest sea-spanning crossings in the world.

Guinness World Records states that the longest bridge spanning open sea is currently the 22.4 mile Hangzhou Bay Bridge in China.